The KIIRA EV Unveiliing (UGANDA)

The official unveiling of Uganda's first electric car was marked by the President of Uganda, HE Yoweri K Museveni taking a drive in the lime green, 2 seat ,right hand drive vehicle. The Kiira EV as is its name is a proof of concept that showcases the brave new direction the development team wants to explore in the further. The team is to develop a production concept 30 seat commuter bus by 2013.


More information about the development in detail on the following link


http://www.newvision.co.ug/news/30288-makerere-launches-electric-car-set-to-embark-on-minibus-kiira-ev-launch-supplement.html

Chevy Volt a fire hazard?

Jeff U'ren writes on the Chevy Volt owners facebook page:

The oil companies and their lobbyists have a lot of money. A whole lot of your money. They buy Congress with it. That's why we don't have any good energy legislation. But the good news is that nothing will stop electric cars from saving the day. And you keep your money and not give it to the oil companies. Then YOU buy Congress! Unless someone makes up a story about electric cars being more dangerous than gasoline cars and we believe that.

Right on cue I read in todays San Francisco Chronicle website an AP article titled
Battery fires prompt govt probe of Chevy Volt.  It turns out that there have been no fires in electric vehicles except as a result of severe crash tests, and those generally didn't happen until some time after the crash--i.e. plenty of time to get out of the vehicle and even have it towed to a repair shop where the ruptured batteries can be removed.  This compares to 266,000 actual fires and 520 deaths annually in internal combustion engine (ICE) cars (per Consumer Affairs).  That's one fire for every 1000 ICE cars on the road compared to none for the 4000 Volts, 8500 Leafs, plus several thousand Teslas and conversions.  The real story is how much safer electric cars are than ICE cars.  But most people only read the headline, so the disinformation works. 

More good news for solar power and electric cars

It's been about a year since we installed our 3.24 kilowatt solar system on our roof, so I thought I'd check in with our installers (Supersolar in Oakland) to see if prices have dropped.  Our system cost $5.25 per kilowatt.  Szilard Szabo from Supersolar told me that today they would charge $4.90 - $5.00 per watt due to the drop in solar panel prices. 

It also looks like we are right on target with our estimates of 4,200 kwh from the solar panels, and about 6,600 kwh total used for the house and the car.  I'll give a report with those exact numbers in January when we have a full year of PG&E bills.

So the good news is that our system today would cost, say $4.95 x 3,240 = $16,038.  With a $948 PG&E rebate and a 30% tax break that would come to $10,563.  Financed for 30 years at the current rate of 4% gives an annual cost of $611.  For 4,200 kwh that comes to 14.5 cents per kwh--very close to PG&E's cheapest rate (Tier 1) for most homes of 12 cents per kwh.  And, as discussed in previous posts, the actual cost of electricity is well below 14.5 cents per kwh since PG&E pays 28 cents per kwh in the peak summer hours and only charges 6 cents per kwh in the off-peak when the car is charging.  That makes solar power and electric cars the cheapest way to buy electricity, and the most environmentally friendly.

Now PG&E wants to raise the rates for electric vehicles, and I'm trying to convince them to leave the rates low at least until there are a lot more EVs on the grid, so stay tuned to see how that plays out.

More good news:  Szilard told me he has installed solar systems for 2-3 leafs and another Volt since mine went in.  That's five EV/PV systems for just one small solar installation company.  Wonder how many of us are out there!  Solar power and electric cars are definitely the way to go, and they keep getting better!

Szilard Szabo installing solar panels on our roof Dec, 2010

How Dirty are the Tar Sands?

View of Tar Sands mining (from Pembina Institute)

Note: Some of the numbers from this post have been updated as of 3/5/2012. Please see: "How Clean Are Electric Cars--Revised"  However, the discussion below is still valid.

My previous post argued that electric cars (EVs) are a cleaner than internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles, even if gasoline is refined from light crude oil.  EVs are still a little bit cleaner even when the electricity is generated by coal, but coal is still something we should move away from asap.

But what if the oil is mined from tar sands?  Extraction of light crude oil produces about 1.5 pounds of CO2 per gallon  (.18 kg/liter).  Estimates vary for the extra energy required to extract tar sands oil.  The Pembina Institute estimates 4.5 pounds of CO2 per gallon and the National Energy Board estimates 6.5 pounds per gallon.

Note one source of confusion about the tar sands.  I read in the Washington Post coverage of the Keystone XL pipeline issue that the tar sands only increase CO2 by “5 – 15%” compared to extraction of light crude oil.  This seemed wildly different than the 3 – 5 times more energy that I had read about the tar sands requiring.

It turns out that both numbers are correct.  For the whole life cycle of extraction, refining, and burning, the tar sands oil adds 3 – 5 pound per gallon, which is an increase of 11% - 19% on top of the 27.5 pounds per gallon that the whole process currently creates.  However, the extraction energy is 3 – 5 times the amount of energy required to extract light crude oil.

The real problem with the tar sands is what will happen to the planet if they are all burned.  Canada has about 300 billion barrels ready to mine, and Venezuela has another 200 billion barrels of what they call extra heavy crude oil.  If all 500 billion of these barrels are burned, using 31.5 pounds of CO2 created per gallon, that would add 500 x 42 x 31.5/2200 lbs/tonne  = 300 billion tonnes of CO2. 

Since it takes 7.8 billion tonnes of CO2 to increase the atmospheric concentration of CO2 by 1 part per million (ppm) (see James Hansen, Storms of our Grandchildren, page 117),  300 billion tonnes would add 39 ppm of CO2 to the atmosphere.  We are already adding more than two ppm every year by burning coal, light crude oil, and natural gas.  And at 390 ppm and counting, we are already well beyond the safe level of 350 ppm.  Adding another 39 ppm to the already overheated earth, is a disaster in the making.

To answer the question of how much this changes the CO2 reduction between electric and ICE vehicles, we take 31.5 pounds of CO2 per gallon for an ICE vehicle,  a car that gets 40 mpg, and an average utility that produces 587 g of CO2 per kwh:

ICE car:  31.5 pounds of CO2 ÷ 40 miles/gallon = .79 pounds of CO2 per mile

Electric car:  0.4 pounds per mile

Reduction:  (.79 – 0.40) ÷ 0.79 = 49% reduction

(see previous post for more details on these calculations)

Visit www.tarsandsaction.org to learn more and get involved in the movement to stop mining the tar sands.

How Clean are Electric Cars?

Note:  this post has been updated as of 3/5/2012.  Please see: "How Clean Are Electric Cars--Revised"

One criticism of electric cars that I often hear is that they still require fossil fuels to generate the electricity.  Of course that is true, and that is why I support solar panels and renewable energy as a way to zero out the carbon footprint of our cars.  Unfortunately, there is a lot of misinformation on this point, so I'd like to clear things up.

My contention here is that we don’t have to wait for our electric grid to be completely renewable, or for our homes all to have solar panels, for electric cars to be far superior to internal combustion engine (ICE) cars with respect to greenhouse gases (and in other ways as well).

For an average utility with a mix of coal, natural gas, nuclear power, hydroelectric, and some renewables, switching to an electric car would reduce CO2 emissions by 69% for an average car.  Here in Oakland, where we use almost no coal to generate electricity, the savings would be 85%.  Even if your utility burns only coal to generate electricity, the reduction would be 52%.  (Stay tuned for further discussion on this about dirty oil--tar sands.)

Even compared to a car that gets 40 mpg, electric vehicles reduce CO2, and even if the electricity is generated by coal—although we should be working to stop using coal as much as possible.  The numbers here are:

Average power plant—electric car reduces CO2 by 42%

PG&E, non coal utility—electric car reduces CO2 by 73%

Utility using only coal—electric car reduces CO2 by  11%

Here are the calculations I am using (please correct me if I’m wrong!):

Carbon dioxide emissions from burning a gallon of gas include:

Extraction—1.5 pounds of CO2  (from Oil Sands Watch Pembina Institute)

Refining--      6     “  (see discussion below)

Burning--    19.4     “  (see for example:   http://www.ehow.com/facts_7311765_much-dioxide-per-gallon-gas_.html)

Total--         27  pounds of CO2 per gallon.

This doesn’t include deforestation, oil spills, or other sources of CO2, but I don’t know how to quantify those in terms of CO2. 

Refining a gallon of oil requires about 4 – 7 kilowatt hours (kwh).  See for example, http://gatewayev.org/how-much-electricity-is-used-refine-a-gallon-of-gasoline.  I used a low estimate of 4.5 kwh per gallon in the numbers above.  Given a mix of coal, natural gas, nuclear, hydroelectric, and renewables, the International Energy Agency (page 109) estimates 508 grams of CO2 is produced per kilowatt hour of electricity in the U.S.  I believe this does not include some additional CO2 produced in mining and shipping fuels.  I will check into this, but for now, will use 1.3 pounds CO2 per kwh.     4.5 kwh/gallon x 1.3 lbs CO2/kwh = 5.95 pounds of CO2 per gallon.

What’s interesting here is that electric cars can drive just about as far on the energy it takes to extract and refine a gallon of gas, as an ICE car can drive on that gallon.  I've heard this referred to as Big Oil's Dirty Little Secret.  Our Chevy Volt and other electric cars go about 3.3 miles or more per kwh.  Divide that by the national average of 1.3 lbs CO2/kwh and you get 2.5 miles per pound of CO2, or 0.4 pounds per mile.  So an electric car will go 2.5 miles per pound of CO2 x 6 pounds CO2 to refine 1 gallon of gas = 15 miles on the energy required just to refine one gallon of oil.  If you add the extraction, an electric car will go 7.5 x 2.5 = 18.8 miles on the energy to produce one gallon.  But the average U.S. car only gets 21.4 miles per gallon.  See:  http://www.project.org/info.php?recordID=384  --  article published January 27th, 2009 by Lacy Loftin; see graph below:
                                

In other words, an electric car creates only as much CO2 as an ICE car does just on the energy to produce gasoline, not even counting burning the gasoline. 

The exact comparison between ICEs and EVs is:

ICE car:  27 pounds of CO2/÷ 21.4 miles/gallon = 1.26 pounds of CO2 per mile

Electric car:  0.4 pounds per mile

Reduction:  (1.26 – 0.4) ÷ 1.26 = 68%

If CO2 generation by the utility company is lower than the average 1.3 pounds (587 g) per kwh, the reduction is even better.  For example, our utility company here in Northern California, PG&E, estimates 0.524 pounds per kwh (238 g/kwh) (http://www.pge.com/about/environment/calculator/assumptions.shtml).  This means the total CO2 per gallon for an ICE drops to about 24 pounds.  At 21.4 mpg, an ICE car produces 24 pounds CO2/gallon÷21.4 miles/gallon = 1.1 pounds of CO2 per mile.   Now an electric car uses:  0.524 pounds of CO2/kwh÷3.3 miles/kwh = 0.16  pound of CO2 per mile.  This is only 15% (.16/1.1) of what an ICE car produces for a reduction of 85%. 

If the CO2 is all based on coal, electric cars are still cleaner than ICE cars.  Coal may generate as much as 2.3 pounds of CO2 per kwh.  See:   http://cdiac.ornl.gov/pns/faq.html

In that case the total CO2 generated by one gallon of gas goes up to 31.5 pounds.  At 21.4 miles per gallon that is 1.47 pounds per mile (31.5/21.4).  To drive an electric car takes 2.3 pounds of CO2/kwh÷3.3 miles/kwh = .70 pounds of CO2/mile.  So an electric car still reduces CO2 by 52%.

But what if you drive a car that gets 40 mpg?  Is an electric car still cleaner? Here are the numbers:

Average utility (587 g/kwh)

ICE car:  27.5 pounds of CO2/÷ 40 miles/gallon = .69 pounds of CO2 per mile

Electric car:  0.4 pounds per mile

Reduction:  (.69 – 0.4) ÷ 0.69 = 42% reduction

The reduction would be greater for PG&E (238 g/kwh):

ICE car:  24 pounds of CO2/÷ 40 miles/gallon = .60 pounds of CO2 per mile

Electric car:  0.16 pounds per mile

Reduction:  (.60 – 0.16) ÷ 0.60 = 73% reduction

And there would still be a benefit, albeit smaller, for an all coal utility:

ICE car:  31.5 pounds of CO2/÷ 40 miles/gallon = .79 pounds of CO2 per mile

Electric car:  0.70 pounds per mile

Reduction:  (.79 - .70) ÷ 0.79 = 11% reduction

Of course, the greatest reduction is for having solar panels on your roof.  In our case we generate about 64% of our electricity with solar, which produces no CO2.   So that leaves 36% x PG&E’s 0.524 pounds/kwh = .19 pounds CO2 per kwh.  At 3.3 miles per kwh that gives  0.06 pounds of CO2 per mile.  Compared to a car that gets 40 mpg or 0.69 pounds of CO2 per mile, that is a 91% reduction. 

But it’s too soon to celebrate.  At 10,000 miles per year, we still produce 600 pounds of CO2, out of a goal of 2200 pounds (one tonne per person per year—see:  http://www.westernite.org/annualmeetings/sanfran10/Papers/Session%206_Papers/ITE%20Paper_6B-Fleck.pdf  page 2)  And we still drive another 2,000 miles a year on vacations at 37 mpg with the Volt, so that adds another 1300 pounds of CO2.  One possible solution for that is that I understand that the new Tesla sedan is designed to go 300 miles on the batteries.  If that is true, most of those road miles could be on electricity, not gas.

GM is not a person

We love our Volt--Viola.  She is dependable, fun to be with, and gives us everything she can.  We would miss her terribly if anything happened to her.  But, truth be told, she is not a real person.

Likewise we appreciate GM for building the Volt.  It's a great car and everyone at GM deserves credit.
But let's be clear--GM built the Volt for one reason--to make profit.  Any other reason would violate their very reason for being.

People who built the Volt no doubt feel pride in their work.  I would feel great about making a cool car that can reduce pollution, stop oil imports, and help prevent climate chaos.  But GM has no such feelings.  Like any corporation, GM is a profit making machine without any human motivation--love and caring for people and other living things, pride in accomplishment, spirit of teamwork, desire to please and to lead people, etc. etc.  Of course people do desire money, and some are downright greedy (e.g. the 1%), but striving for more money is only one of many human motivations as any good manager can attest.

Corporations are not people, and we need to repeal the inhuman supreme court ruling that says they are, including amending the U.S. constitution if necessary.

LUGNuts Is Four years Old Roundup

Everyone shut your goddamned puke holes for a minute! Not that any of you were talking. Or puking. I just always wanted to start a roundup like that. Now that I have, welcome to our four year birthday roundup. As always we could pick from any challenge throughout the year and even way back in LUGNuts history and build accordingly. The birthday challenges are always a crowd favorite but this one was unique in the sense that there are more entries submitted after the deadline than before it. I guess everyone was on rock and roll time...which could explain all the aforementioned vomiting...yanno, being rock stars and all. Anyway, lets get ready to rock!

 Rolic was our opener with this stunning pair of first and fourth generation Pontiacs for the "Two Of A Kind Challenge". Actually they were originally posted at the tail end of the last challenge but as Rolic was on rock and roll time, he missed out on getting a clever write up. Makes since considering he actually is a musician...but he sings in a nice choir for his church so I don't think they trash hotel rooms and set their guitars on fire.



 Rolic comes back later with an encore performance but this time in a form of a lovely blue BMW Hydrogen 7 thereby honoring three challenges at once..."Autos Aus Deutschland", "Millennium Marvels" and "Alternate Fuels". It would be totally punk rock if his choir trashed hotel rooms occasionally and maybe propositioned prostitutes from time to time. Just sayin'.



 No stranger to trashing hotel rooms (probably) is jmaokoen with his little Lotus 49B for the challenge called "Everything Under The Sun". At first I thought he was showing some versatility as its long body and huge spoiler makes it appear to be an oldschool drag racer but upon further review he has built yet again a Formula One racer. What can ya say, the kid is a one trick pony!



 Much later in the challenge, jmaokoen returns with some slight variation to his one trick with the Lotus 49B, 56B, 63, and 72 in Gold Leaf livery for "Two of A Kind" times two. That's four of a kind...or two squared. Right? I don't know, math was never my strong suit. Neat looking slot race track, though.



Oldeconoline has at least a couple tricks up his sleeve, this time in the form of an English twin motorbike with sidecar. He was trying to replicate Hagrid's bike from the Harry Potter series and a quick Google search proves he has done alright with it.

 

Ace chimes in with a surprisingly well detailed little Sipil TT two-seater in white, orange and black. I like the fenders and the spoiler. You want another spoiler? It turns out Bruce Willis was dead the whole time in The Sixth Sense. Did I spoil that for you already in another roundup? There's only so many big movie surprises I know.



 One of the most iconic vehicles in the history of the world ever is the old Volkswagen T1 microbus. Jason Son shows us what happens when you take that beloved icon and give it a classic hot rod look. Chopped and lowered and painted in rat rod matte black and grey with a thin pinstripe, this van sports oldschool hot rod red rims undoubtedly from the new Cars Francesco set. Red rims...the best thing LEGO has done for hot rod builders in a long time.



 You know that book "A Tale of Two Cities"? Well this is a tale of Two Builders. Ralph Savelsberg also had the iconic T1 on the brain but typical to what Ralph does, he goes classically bog standard on this one. This is an updated remake of a model he built six years ago that predates LUGNuts. See, this just shows we were all Lugnuts before we were ever LUGNuts. Makes sense?



Legogil takes an adventure and goes way back in time...back to '09 with an entry for "Zombie Killfest '09". It was a more innocent time back then...back when zombies didn't have their own series on AMC and you could kill them with spike-laiden, flame throwing supercars from Mad Max. Ahhh, good times, indeed!




 Bad Furday is forever and always having...a bad fur day. But he has taken time out to build this neat little 1991 Footwork Porsche F1 racer for the "Autos Aus Deutschland" challenge. Nice presentation on that slick red reflective surface...although I suppose nowadays it could have been just a slick photoshop trick. Either way...pretty cool.



 Bad Furday chimes in again with one of my personal favorite entries...this electric bumper car for the "Alternate Fuels" challenge. I hold a special place in my heart for a vehicle that bends the rules intelligently and this one fits that bill nicely. If only automobile accidents were always this much fun.



 Then Furday comes back later for an encore performance with this 2011 Morgan 3-Wheeler for the "Everything Under The Sun" Challenge. This car would have made those long, awkward father-son road trip talks a lot more fun. You know the ones...if you had learned to wipe like a real man instead of like your mother you'd opt to be an engineer instead of going to art school. Anyway...



Some of us can surf, some can play guitar...NK DeSign-er builds really cool alternate models for official LEGO sets. Its just what he does. In this case he builds us a tow truck for the really ancient challenge #9 called "Haulin' Ass". He tells us its nice to be able to build once a year for challenges that dates before he has even heard of this place. I agree.



 He weighs in later with an alternate model once again for set #5867 Super Speedster...this one a Motorbike/ chopper. He says to be gentle on him as it was his first moto but I see no problem with his work. he also says to tell him when we get tired of his alternate models of official sets but I think we never will tire of this.



 Lego Junkie also has zombies on his brrraaaaaains with this apocalyptic rig for "Zombie Killfest '09" There is just something fun about zombie killin'. They're already dead so blasting their heads off with a shotgun seems OK somehow. Funny thing...as I type, I am wearing a shirt that has a skull on it and says "I club zombies" except the club is that club symbol from the deck of cards. Actually I've never clubbed a zombie in real life but I have shot my brother in the face with a rubber band. Does that count?



 Dohoon Kim has the "Millennium Marvels" challenge on his delicious gooey brrrrraaaaains with this rugged little Land Rover Bowler Wildcat in yellow. Oh that reminds me, when playing Left 4 Dead 2 Boomers are best killed from a distance, not up close. One time, I was mowing down this horde of zombies with a chainsaw then blindly plowed through his fat belly with it. He exploded puke and bile and I was runnin' blind for like a minute, chasing my own teammates with the chainsaw. Hilarity ensued!



 Felipe Descomplicado goes all "Autos Aus Deutschland" on our asses with not one, but two four axle German trucks. One is a Mercedes, the other a Man and together they are working to lug a huge industrial generator to...uh...wherever huge industrial generators are needed. Like a 5 year old's birthday party or a library. Probably.



Jonathan Derksen makes ugly look so good. Nothing good has ever come out of the 80's, and let's admit the 1980 VW T3 has all the lukewarm design aspects and conservative styling indicative of that decade. But Jonathan painstakingly captures the vehicle so well and even accurately captures a feel for a decade he has never been a part of. The Huxtables would have been thrilled to lug all the kids around in this.



 Tim Inman takes a break from building Chevys to show some love for the BMW Z3 M Coupe. He tells us that the rather feminine roadster is testosterone injected with flared fenders and quad exhaust tips. Yeah, I know when I want to get all macho I show off my flared fenders and quad exhaust tips.



 It was only a matter of time before the most badass truck builder on the planet builds the most badass truck ever. Bricksonwheels takes on Optimus prime in all its stunning blue and red flaming glory. As it runs on Energon, this Autobot joins the ranks of the "Alternate Fuels" challenge. it doesn't transform but we can forgive that because it runs on power functions and just look at all that dazzling chrome!



 According to Christophbrill and his son Hans, nothing says "Two Of A Kind" and "Everything Under The Sun" like an Outrunner from the game Borderlands and a 1908 Renault AX. Yeah. Normally they would go together like fried chicken and jumping jacks but the dynamic duo seems to make a pretty good pair out of such dissimilar vehicles.



 What happens when you pit Lino Martins in a blood thirsty Iron Builder battle arena against some Scottsman with a caffeine addiction? You get a pretty little custom '55 Ford F-100 called Amazon Jade. Duh, that outcome should have been obvious! But what was a little freaky-deaky about that is I built it for a challenge called "The Stuff Dreams Are Made Of". Not on the list. A future challenge maybe? Is this some sort of weird time travel thing? How can this happen? For the love of God, can someone please explain what is going on here? Stay tuned to find out. ;)



 Oh boy! Everyone kick back. Grab a hot cup of coffee. Maybe spike it with a little Baileys. Maybe make yourself a nice plate of cheese and crackers with some pepperoni slices...and apples with some honey and yogurt. Maybe throw some granola in there for texture and flavor. I don't know, cripes, what do I got to make all your decisions for you?! My point is, this Chevrolet Corvette C6 Convertible is the start of a loooong string of late entries by the ever prolific Lego911. So make yourself comfortable.



Are you comfortable yet? The Mercedes-Benz W136 170 V Limousine burns wood and gas so it fits right in the "Alternate Fuels" challenge and "Autos Aus Deutschland". When I was a kid I thought my head would fit neatly between two iron bars in a fence. As all the EMT guys can attest, it turns out it did.



 Next on the 911 slab is this 2011 Ford FG II Falcon XR6 ECOLPi Sedan built for the "Alternate Fuels" challenge at it runs on Liquid Phase Injection LPG. I have no idea what any of that means but thank God for copy/paste! Its a lot of technical writing I don't have to do thanks to 911 doing it for me.



Its no surprise that the real life engineer for Ford would go way back in Ford history with this 1911 Ford Model-T two door...as built "For The Ladies" and for "Alternate Fuels" as this "Tin Lizzie" can run on ethyl alcohol and kerosene, to suit the fuel availability in rural American communities, and to be run from farm produced biofuels. Neat!



So next, this maestro of the Ford automobile constructs this...1955 Buick and a decidedly cool one at that. The matching surf board denotes "Two of a Kind" and the Barbie looking figure is "For The Ladies" and, as it turns out, really is Barbie from the movie "Barbie A Mermaid Tale". I don't know how that movie never made my Netflix list.



 Next 911 kills three birds with one stone (gross!) with this Octan Racing Team MAN tractor and trailer...the three birds being "Octan Racing", "Autos Aus Deutschland" and "Two of a Kind". I wonder how that old expression came about.



 Speaking of old expressions of dubious and possibly sinister meaning, Peter shows that there is more than one way to skin a cat with this cool custom Fast Gassin' rig from the 2009 Hot Wheels line. You see, Peter wanted to build "By Random Appointment" and I demanded something well outside his already formidable comfort zones. I'd say he pulled it off nicely.



 Another thing he pulled off nicely is this Remote controlled Octan Racing Ultimate RC Drift Volkswagen Microbus Kombi. Holy crap, I wish I can take the controls of this thing just to see what it'll do! I just want to hug it and squeeze it and call it George! Then drive it down a flight of stairs. Can I pleaze? I can haz Kombi?



 Dark red Ramone isn't without his charms either. It was built for the "Cars, Too" challenge as it looks like it came from Cars Two. Yeah I know you foreign born English as a second language LUGNutters out there just have a field day trying to understand those homonyms. "Their", "they're" and "there" are a real hoot.



 Is that it for Peter? That wasn't so bad after all. LegoExotics conjures up a neat duo of exotic racers that fit in a myriad of challenges including: "Night and Day", "Two of a Kind","Color Me Strange","Millenium Marvels","Lemons or Le Mans","Autos aus Deutschland", "Everything under the Sun" and "Alternative Fuels". That's like a bird slaughterhouse! They're both beautiful cars though.



 Raphy is a man of few words these days. What's with that, kiddo?! He gets all silent and Clint Eastwood-y on us and quietly posts this little yellow racer as if to say...I know what you're thinking. Did I fire six shots or only five? In all of this excitement I seemed to have forgotten myself. So, do you feel lucky, punk? Well, do ya? Do ya!?



 TechnicFenix13 must have been feeling pretty lucky. First he pulls through with a Randon Appointment request. I demanded the Apollo 13 Lunar Rover and he pulled through with flying colors...or should I say muted colors in gray and black? But still very nice. Houston, we have a rover!



 Then later he gets a little more colorful and springs for a duo of dynamic hard working trucks for "Two of a Kind" and the current challenge "On the Job". Both are working flatbeds and I suspect one is a slightly modified set. Still pretty cool idea though.





If you're like me you've probably spent many a night crying yourself to sleep pleading for the love of God, can someone please build a working RC from the movie Cars 2?! I mean, cripes his name is RC so he should be remote controlled and made of lime green and blue technic parts for lightweight maneuverability and high speed handling! Well, it seems Nathan Proudlove has answered our cries in the night and puts us all to bed, warm and comfy as a fitting end to this special birthday challenge.



 What a great round up! Thanks for making LUGNuts THE cornerstone for LEGO automotive building and the standard of success for other groups to follow. I mean, go ahead...have a look around. You'll find nary a group who has done as many challenges with such consistent success as we have. Kinda makes you feel all warm and fuzzy, doesn't it? Well stick around for this month's challenge called "On The Job"...all about hard working commercial vehicles like mail delivery trucks, taxicabs, cement mixers, snowplows...and when your neighbors become particularly unruly, you've got your SWAT Assault Mobile Command Vehicles to take them down with. Its all in a day's work when you're On The Job. The SWAT team is closing in now but they'll never catch me. You punks feeling lucky? Well, are ya?!

Pressure pays off

To paraphrase Isaac Newton:  "Nothing moves unless a force is applied to it".  So the decision by the State Department to consider alternative routes for the Keystone XL Pipeline has to be seen as a consequence of thousands of people circling the White House on November 6, and the continuing activism of the anti-pipeline movement.  It's not exactly a victory, but it does show that pressure can force some movement.  I think it is clear that President Obama does not want to antagonize his environmentalist supporters before the election. 

The real goal has to be not just to have some "safer" route for the pipeline, but to not build any pipeline at all.  As leading climate scientist James Hansen has said, "Policy makers need to understand that these unconventional fossil fuels, which are as dirty and polluting as coal, must be left in the ground if we wish future generations to have a liveable planet."

Report from Washington Tar Sands Demonstration

I had a great time yesterday, joining up to 10,000 people in Washington, DC protesting the Keystone XL Pipeline project and demanding that President Obama veto it, or at least call for a new environmental review process.  I especially enjoyed the many young people leading the protest; the biggest roar from the crowd came when one speaker cried, "People under 40--make some noise!"

Here's my report:

“We’re going to give President Obama a big hug, and then not let go,” declared one of the organizers.  As many as 10,000 demonstrators circled the White House to demand that Obama say no to the $7 billion, 2100 mile pipeline that is intended to bring oil from Alberta’s tar sands to refineries in the U.S. 

Naomi Klein (see previous post) described the tar sands as “the third largest oil reserve in the world.”  Klein explained, “the tar sands are only viable if the price of oil stays up,” debunking the argument that somehow this new oil would bring oil prices down.

Leading climate scientist, James Hansen, told the rally, “The tar sands are the “critical juncture” in our struggle against “fossil fuel addiction.”  Hansen was instrumental in starting the anti-tar sands movement when he stated that mining the tar sands would mean “game over” for the climate.  Many speakers echoed Hansen’s sentiments.  Transit Workers Union president Roger Toussaint added, “the pipeline closes the door on bringing global warming under control.”  Peter Wilk, Executive Director of Physicians for Social Responsibility said that it will “deepen our dependency on oil, contributing to ever worsening climate chaos.  Extreme weather events of the past year are not mere coincidence.  They are part of an alarming pattern of worsening hurricanes, heat waves, snow storms, flooding.  .  . .  It is happening now.”  He quoted the World Health Organization, which attributes 140,000 deaths per year to global warming.  Bill McKibben founder of 350.org and the key organizer of the event, declared that “if we go ahead and build this stupid pipeline, there is no way that we will ever in this country be able to ask anyone—in China or anyplace else—to do the right thing on climate.”

Bill McKibben serves as emcee at the rally

Speakers also condemned other environmental impacts of the pipeline in addition to global warming.  Former pipeline worker John Bolenbaugh described the many spills he witnessed saying, “There will be spills if you let this thing go through.”    Maude Barlow, a Canadian activist like Klein, said that this is “the dirtiest oil on earth” as she described the poisoned lakes, deadly to all wildlife, that remain after the mining.

Gulf of Mexico activist Sherry Footland drew the connections between BP's Gulf oil spill and mountain top removal, fracking, toxic contamination of water and air, indigenous tribes near the tar sands, those fighting lies and deception around climate change, and the children of the world.  She said, "We join you!"

Klein rebutted another argument for building the pipeline, namely that it will be built to the Pacific Coast if it isn’t built across the U.S.  She said that we Canadians “will stop whatever pipeline you try to build,” and that a demonstration was taking place in Vancouver at the same time as the one in Washington.  “We have the tar sands surrounded,” she declared, referring to their landlocked location.  “We need to cut off the arteries and cause a heart attack”

The demonstration focused on President Obama since he has the authority to veto the project.  He can’t blame this decision on Congress.  Courtney Hyde, a youthful supporter of Obama in 2008 urged him to “give us hope back.”  Bill McKibben said that we have to “liberate Barack Obama from wherever they have him locked away.”  He also described how Obama donors are lined up holding off on donations until he says no to the pipeline.   Heather Mizeur a member of the Democratic National Committee, told the crowd she was inspired by the 1253 arrests over the pipeline in September at the White House.  We need to hold the president accountable and tell him, “We are your base; we are the Democrats that elected you.” 

Van Jones sent a statement calling for “civil disobedience along every inch of the construction route” if the pipeline is approved. 

Many speakers, such as Peter Wilk, called for “clean, renewable energy as the path to a healthier future.”  Roger Toussaint led the crowd in a “mike check” call and repeat:   “We want jobs, not jobs as gravediggers of the planet.” James Hansen said, “Oil does not pay its costs.  The only solution is to put a price on carbon emissions and pay a 100% monthly dividend to the public.”

 

Heather Mizeur warned Obama, “If you don’t veto the pipeline, your next campaign slogan should be “Climate Change we can Believe In”.

All in all it was a great demonstration, and I'm sure this has caught the President's attention.  However, saying No to the oil industry would be a huge leap for our cautious president.  So the plan is to keep the pressure on by visiting Obama for America offices and demanding that the staff let the president know that he can only energize his base by saying no to the pipeline.  Stay tuned.